Select Local Merchants

For more than 100 years, Spector Furniture has brightened drab, darkened homes with a vast collection of designer furnishings, accents, and lighting. Patrons peruse the showroom, lined with mirrors (up to $200), sofas ($899+), recliners ($500+), and other room-boosting units from frequently slept in, sat on, and hurdled over suppliers such as Stanley and La-Z-Boy. Attentive associates help find armoires and cabinets to fit your home’s distinct style, ranging from rustic cabins to modern dens. Orders within 20 miles receive free delivery, and all purchases come with free setup, so customers can avoid confusion trying to attach mislabeled legs to dangling chandeliers.

The window dressers at Connecticut Shade and Blind have embellished bare panes with custom blinds, shades, and sumptuous draperies for more than a quarter century. Interior rooms exposed to overly enthusiastic sunbeams or binocular-bearing blue jays cover vulnerable windows with light filtering double-cell shades ($546 for a 36"x54" panel). The futuristic blinds are energy efficient, helping to defend against winter drafts and roasting summer suns. Wood blinds ($549 for a 36"x54" panel) or faux wood blinds ($413 for a 36"x54" panel) add texture and a touch of the outdoors to stylish interiors. A variety of fabrics in woven blends or ethereal sheers dress window interiors as curtains or human exteriors as stylish togas. Any accrued shipping costs are included in this Groupon.

In almost 30 malls sprinkled across four states, Beauty Plus Salon beckons prospective makeover recipients with a fleet of skilled stylists and a colossal selection of professional beauty products. "The beauty industry never slows down," staffers say on Facebook, so "neither do we." That's why mall-goers find Beauty Salon open seven days a week. Between the retail shelves that average 500 nail polish colors, clients get gussied with services that pamper hair, skin, and nails.

In 1965, Popular Mechanics ran a small classified ad for Brookstone, a new catalog company that packed its pages with functional products and detail-oriented descriptions. Brookstone quickly expanded to meet the high demand for its collection of ?hard-to-find tools,? and opened the door to its first retail location in 1973. Today, Brookstone?s more than 300 nationwide retail locations allow customers to test-drive its ever-growing lineup of interesting products, which range from Bluetooth-enabled massage chairs to power adapters designed for international travelers and their electronic passports. Staying true to its roots as a catalog company, Brookstone houses an even larger selection of products, each waiting patiently to be shipped, on its website.

Furniture Emporium stocks a wide variety of American-made home furnishings in a cozy 1801 structure on Route 44 in Canton. Visitors can browse furniture by Harden, Clayton Marcus, Four Seasons, and quality Amish wood furniture. The company's talented decorators also reupholster furniture and make custom slipcovers and window treatments.